West Bromwich Albion beat Championship Leeds United to the signing of Romaine Sawyers – Slaven Bilic’s gain is Marcelo Bielsa’s loss.
Few players can claim to be in the form of their life at the age of 34. But Leeds United talisman Pablo Hernandez continues to defy the doubters every single time he sets foot on the football pitch.
The former Valencia and Swansea City forward was arguably the most influential attacker anywhere in the Championship last season and, with two goals in his first three games of the new campaign, this ethereal, evergreen pass-master has certainly picked up where he left off. That one-man destruction of Bristol City, including a goal, an assist and a double nutmeg, is still fresh in the memory.
But Hernandez can’t do it all himself. A 46-game season is a slog for someone at the peak of their physical prowess, not to mention an all-action midfielder who will be 35 in the midst of the end-of-season run-in.
But have Leeds missed a golden chance to sign a player capable of easing the creative burden on this evergreen Spaniard and stepping into the Samu Saiz-shaped void that still exists at the heart of Marcelo Bielsa’s midfield?
Bielsa’s Championship table-toppers were interested in signing Romaine Sawyers from Brentford, according to the Daily Record, before he returned to former club West Brom in a £3 million deal before the window slammed shut.
And just three games into his Baggies career, Sawyers is already proving indispensable to Slaven Bilic’s plans. No one in the Championship can match the St Kitts and Nevis international for successful passes (189) while he boasted a remarkable 98 per cent pass completion rate in the weekend win at Luton Town, according to the Express and Star.
Sawyers isn’t going to end the season at the top of the assist charts but it’s his in-built awareness and superb use of the ball that surely caught the eye of Bielsa, the ultimate possession purist. It’s not hard to imagine Sawyers sparking an immediate understanding with Hernandez a la Saiz before the enigmatic Spaniard walked away from Elland Road in the winter.
In 18 months in West Yorkshire, the one-time Atletico Madrid youngster produced just five goals and 11 assists; good, without being great. But while the detractors may point to the numbers to show that Saiz was hardly irreplaceable, that misses the point. The former £3 million man was the creator-in-chief, the man who started attacks from deep with probing passes into the final third and released the full-backs via a perfectly weighted through ball.
Unfortunately, no one notices the man who provided the assist to the assist. Saiz’s creativity is missed at Leeds, no matter what anyone says. And, in Sawyers, Bielsa has missed out on the chance to roll back the clock 12 months and replicate the best, most free-flowing Leeds’ performances of his reign.
Instead, Leeds will be left praying that Hernandez continues to pass the test of time with flying colours.
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